Bob

What's the reasonable market rate for one of these right now? Thanks

I'd like to see this as well (although I won't have much to add I'm afraid). Have been putting all my books from storage into cabinets in new house past days and came across some old auction catalogues. Before I knew it, i was reading through them... and noticed a transitional period Order of Friendship (without the CCCP on it but same design) - this would fall into the forum as well?

I don't believe only posting activity should be the criteria on which to decide whether or not a dedicated place on the forum is possible or not. While I appreciate an "other" bucket can always be useful, I've also noticed that simply providing a dedicated area (Mongolia is an example, Albania another one) helps to bring more focus and structure to relatively unserved interests... subsequently attracting more people and hus creating a wider knowledge base than if posts would just be scattered.

May be quiet in this part of the forum for some time now, but surprise surprise Alexei has put some new stuff up on his site again! Wake up everybody - wintersleep is over :cheers:

Just in the mail (haven't scanned it yet), same Master of Sports but with a more commonly seen (soiled) 5 sided suspension instead of the red enameled "knot" - handywork at home or a 3rd version?

Bump - for old times sake Not much happening in Mongolia collecting land so why not reread some old threads :cheers:

130291248413 well, the foreign one is on ebay now and the seller (same as who offered it to me) has dropped the price (starting bid) to 900 Euro... the pics may be interesting thoughts?

There's a nr 258 for sale on ebay for a whopping 950 USD (somebody's selling some major pieces of a collection) Reminds me to get mine out of the vault for weighing in a few days so we can do some comparison and hopefully establish some weight ranges

Perhaps provide Jani your www-address so he can use it as a reference?

Any clarity on what the deal is about two versions of the ribbon: - red/black as Eric posted - but I've also seen several blue / white versions

For the die hard enthusiasts, this may be interesting: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_det...178085&sid=

Interestingly enough, I dived into my collection of awards documents and found an odd case: - award document with the phrase "certificate" on it - yet ALSO with the reference to a decree number (in the same spot as where other "certificate" documents have a number (e.g. 1234) this document has "1234 i dekretit") Hmmm :speechless:

Thanks Ed The preview on this auction only shows pics and it was chockful of Albanian awards this pic so assumed this belonged to it - incorrectly clearly :cheers:

I see now that the link doesn't work (it does if you irst go to the site, click yes to the required tick box, and THEN copy the link) in any case, some batches of albanian awards in this auction and the blue ones at right hand bottom look, well, new to me (perhaps they are modern awards?)

Correctemundo (as Fonzie would say)

http://www.andreas-thies.de/aktuelles/1942-038-08-jpg.html Look at bottom right hand corner.

Yeah, scanning the site he has some very nice items. Also, can't feel bad about a dealer who puts an SB on his front page While we cannot provide scientific "proof", I hope he doesn't mind his Soyombo being discussed here. The soyombo offered to me (162) was purported to be part of a group (belonging to an SB which I bought a few weeks ago) but right now there was no document available. Am still hoping the dealer can trace down the award booklet and then we might be getting a step further... Soyombo is an area of concern / curiosity, that's for sure.

Here's the text / pics from the site: "Hero of Labour, Golden Soyombo, #114. Ref. Batt. #A3.1. Soviet manufacture, 23k gold, early 2 piece construction. Has perfect enamel and shows only small signs of wear. It was authorized for issue on July 2, 1971. A record number of 32 Soyombos were awarded that year, no doubt as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Revolution of 1921. 20 were authorized on July 2nd, and although research is not possible at this time, according to Khendemleh and Tomorbaatar's Names of Persons of Outstanding Merit (2007) it may have been awarded to Mr. Damdingiin Sosor. $9500" I will email the dealer to make him aware of this thread. For educational purposes and overall help to the collecting community, I think it's good to document these interesting cases.

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3437...mp;#entry322750 Should have posted that in this thread in the first place

Here's another one, offered to me for sale recently

Hmmm, that price for an original sounds appealing to me then! :cheers:

Both the site, the info AND the pic of Soyombo... One just like it was offered for sale to me, no line under the number on reverse... hmmm http://www.thorsonmilitaria.com/Mongolia.html

Hi Eric - I read that little gem of a book while in Tirana last year. A fun read - both insightful and humorous at times. Makes you wish that you were born a lot earlier in history:)

I've ordered (a long time ago, and STILL waiting for it! every couple of weeks Amazon sends me an email on progress... or rather lack of it) the following book: Albania as Dictatorship and Democracy (Albania in the Twentieth Century) by Owen Pearson It's part of a 3 book series on the history of Albania which - for the Albania enthousiasts - will probably be very warmly received. While I've not yet read it, the praise for the book is certainly very convincing. How many Albania collectors are out there is a mystery to me... not that many I guess:(